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Buyers will need to feel right at home with new reports
Scotlands home owners have seen house prices increase steadily over the past few months, bucking the UK trend and outperforming London's property market.
Prices have generally been more affordable north of the Border, ensuring a healthy market. However, it could be a different story later in the year. We may see people rush to sell their homes before December in order to avoid providing a Home Report for prospective buyers. This will give buyers more choice of properties and we could see prices drop during this time as a result.
In this big shake-up to buying and selling in Scotland, the Scottish Government will introduce Home Reports for all residential properties marketed for sale from December 1, 2008.
The Home Report will have three main elements:
• A single survey showing the condition of the property and valuation which must, by law, be carried out by a chartered surveyor who is a member of RICS Scotland.
• An energy report from a chartered surveyor showing how "green" a property is and the improvements that could be made such as added insulation.
• A property questionnaire filled out by the seller informing purchasers of parking arrangements, disabled access and everyday information, such as if the house has cable TV.
Selling your home is a huge decision but it's also natural for people to feel uneasy about a new system. People who may have considered selling in the winter might decide to market earlier and that's why we could see an increase of properties for sale in the summer and autumn.
The Home Report is a big change for everyone – those buying and selling, chartered surveyors who will carry out the single survey and energy report and selling agents and solicitors who will put the report together on behalf of the seller. It will take time for everyone to get used to it but the Scottish Chartered surveyors and estate agents in England and Wales noticed a surge in the number of new instructions on their books in the month prior to Home Information Packs (HIPs) being rolled out south of the Border. Additionally, two thirds reported a drop in the amount of homes being put up for sale in the months after HIPs were introduced. While Home Reports offer different information than HIPs, we do expect to see a similar pattern in Scotland.
The property market in Scotland – and Edinburgh in particular – is strong and robust and while I think it will withstand the credit crunch I will be watching closely to see how it copes in the months prior to the Home Report coming in on December 1.
It will be interesting to look back in a year's time.
• Janey Milligan is chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in Scotland
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